“Havana Kyrie”
Directed by Paolo Consorti
1 - First of all, congratulations for your remarkable and Finalist feature film! How were your first steps as a director?
Actually I started late. I was born a painter and at fifty I had a “cinematic raptus”. let's be honest, cinema has always been a lovely dream. after the Academy of Fine Arts, I had a wonderful experience with Serghey Bondarciuk, who saw my Dante pictorial works and proposed to me to collaborate for a project on the Divine Comedy. Due to Serghey's health conditions, the project did not come true, but for me it was an unforgettable adventure. 2 - How would you define your personal experience with cinema as a filmmaker?
Like a curious and affable stray dog. I think of the cimematographic work with the same lightness of the pictorial work. Of course, building a film is much more complex and stressful, but also interesting and fun. cinema has brought out the passions I have always had, such as philosophy, writing and music.
3 - How did the idea for this project come about?
The idea started with a proposal from Franco Nero. He asks me to think of an idea for a film to shoot in Cuba. I didn't get told twice, I went looking for inspiration and I thought of a story that posed an elderly and rigid Italian conductor, struggling with the ease of a Cuban children's choir. the idea of this contrast amused me and also excited me.
4 - We would like to know more about the choice of your shots. How has the process been of the selection of each of them?
As I said, our protagonist is an austere expert on Rossini's music. the obligation to work in Havana puts in contrast the Italian environment of the theater and its Renaissance villa in Pesaro, with the colorful theaters and the crumbling and fascinating architecture of Cuba. This apparently only aesthetic aspect , has a much deeper meaning: being united! Every scene shot had to remind me of this basic concept.
5 - What industry figure do you feel identified with, what have your influences been?
My nature spontaneously drags me to imagine a story, forces me to direct it so as not to lose it and condemns me to produce it to make it come true. Cinema is very similar to Renaissance art. In the Italian sixteenth century, art was not free, yet it is still unsurpassed today. this seems a contradiction, but in reality, the artist gives the best of himself, when he also plays with compromise. freedom is an illusion.
6 - Tell us about the backstage. What were the most complex or difficult things you had to solve during filming (technically and/or emotionally)?
I have been painting in solitude for decades. Directing so many people, in different languages, was certainly not easy. But the charm and emotion of the encounters, of the same clashes, up to the achievement of the final single work, are priceless. I really think I did well.
7 – Can you tell us something about your next job?
Now? Many and none ;-)
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Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak with you!
We will be attentive to your next jobs!
Madrid Film Awards I Press Team madridfilmawards.com